Tuesday, September 23, 2014
COLUMBUS (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court has heard a case brought by charter schools contending they are entitled to equipment bought by their management company with taxpayer dollars without having to pay for the property.
At issue before the court today were arguments by several schools formerly run by Akron-based White Hat Management that taxpayer dollars remain public when management companies use them for operating publicly funded charter schools.
The schools say items such as textbooks, computers and furniture purchased by a management company using taxpayer dollars belong to the charter school they were bought for.
White Hat says in almost all circumstances it owns the property because the public money it receives for operating schools becomes private when it takes control of it.
A decision is expected this year.